With curly locks, a distinctive nose and effortless charm, Parker is a unique star whose career began in childhood. After performing in a few Broadway shows, this precocious performer segued to TV and movies as a teen usually playing appealingly geeky heroines, even though off-screen she was all grown up and living with Robert Downey Jr. In the early '90s she broke up with Downey and transitioned to adult roles with sexy turns in a string of big-screen comedies such as L.A. Story. After shying away from series television for much of the decade, Parker took a chance on the female ensemble comedy Sex and the City and became an instant sex symbol and fashion plate. And while she was portraying a single thirtysomething New Yorker searching for Mr. Right, in real life she was happily married to Matthew Broderick.